Speculation surrounding the development of Fallout 4 recently resurfaced, once again, following news of a German trademark filing for a mysterious product, entitled “Fallout: Shadow of Boston.” Created on Oct. 25, the filing initially appeared to confirm information disclosed within previously leaked documents, posted by Kotaku’s Jason Schreier last year.
Alas, the news has turned out to be yet another hoax. Bethesda took to Twitter to deny the authenticity of the trademark: “The German trademark filing that’s making the rounds is a hoax. This didn’t come from our offices.”
Obviously, this isn’t the first hoax trademark filing we’ve stumbled across for the long-awaited, post-apocalyptic video game. Back in late 2013, a hoaxer created an unofficial teaser page, called Survivor 2299, for Fallout 4. The somewhat elaborate troll gradually released snippets of information and cryptic clues that appeared to center around the fictional wastelands of Boston.
Bethesda’s response to Survivor 2299 was initially muted, that is until after the hoaxer came clean and revealed it was all a playful ruse. In turn, this angered some members of the Fallout community, many of whom had spent weeks piecing bits of the puzzle together.
In January, 2014, an email teaser hoax also made its way onto the Internet. Spread by reddit user Vithren, the email claimed a “special announcement” was on its way from Bethesda. In the wake of the previous debacle, however, Bethesda’s VP of PR, Pete Hines, promptly announced that the image was a fake.
While the community has been endlessly teased over Fallout 4′s possible existence, leaked casting documents suggest the game is almost certainly on the cards. Originally published on Kotaku, the documents made reference to a project codenamed “Institute,” and featured a wealth of new information, from an artist rendering of a character to parts of a script.